Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab-
WHAT Wednesday Videos
Category Archives: Outreach
The heat is breaking.
This has been another week with 100-plus degree (F) days. Well, cooler temperatures (~90s) at the later part of the week seems to have weather forecasters thinking that the string of hot, hot days are over. Nonetheless, with the dry conditions and any potential windy conditions still make many parts of Texas a danger to wildfires. With wildfires in the news and most people knowing what fire can do to plants. I think it would be educational to look at what heat ( not as extreme as a… Read More →
Long silence….
I apologize for the long silence as the schedule has just been crazy for the past 3 weeks. In early August, both the Plant Clinic diagnostician and I, and a bunch of our Texas A&M colleagues made our way to Hawaii for the Annual American Phytopathological Society meeting. This was a joint meeting with the the International Association for Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS). That meant lots of folks from all around the world, and a bunch of interesting research that was presented along with discussion of situation with agriculture in… Read More →
First Detector Network News
This is the friday before the 3-day July 4th weekend. To think about all the changes in food and plant security in the time that this country been in existence is a little overwhelming. And think that a lot of that change occurred in the last 10 years or so. The First Detector program is a volunteer based National Plant Diagnostic Network program that recruit folks who are curious about plant pest and pathogens AND are willing to help out by being additional eyes, ears and hands on… Read More →
Mushrooms in the Garden Beds
You may have seen some mushrooms popping up in your garden beds. Usually, you see them most in beds that are mulched with bark or shredded wood; essentially a recycled wood product. The Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab gets a lot of questions with regards to these sightings, everything from “Is it dangerous?”, “ Is it poisonous?”, “Will it kill my plants?”, to “How do I get rid of it?” Let’s break it down. It is dangerous? The short answer is PROBABLY NOT. Many times, the mushrooms you see are… Read More →
How to Sample for Oak Wilt Testing
Oak Wilt season is rapidly approaching! We have already seen several submissions here at the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab. However, we have seen a few submissions that weren’t adequate for Oak Wilt testing. Here are a few pointers on how to correctly take samples from your oak tree: 1. We need branches that are about 6 inches long and 1 to 2 inches in diameter. We can’t do anything with twigs! Ideally, the branches you send should be from the part of the tree that is showing symptoms of decline. 2. If… Read More →
